UGC’s New Directive Soon to Take Down AICTE’s Authority Over State Engineering colleges

Jagran Josh

Dec 18, 2013 18:44 IST

If the latest proposed directive of University Grants Commission (UGC) gets into effect, the technical and Professional Colleges of state will only be answerable to their respective universities, whereas the role of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) in the same shall become out of the picture.

After the new act gets operable and implemented in 2014, the state universities could themselves be able to decide on plummeting admission seats in engineering colleges that remain untaken by the applicants.

A handbook for affiliation, drafted in advance by UGC, has been uploaded on their website for various stakeholders to see and comment on.

As stated in the new rules planned by the UGC, the AICTE functioning will be limited to only affiliating universities in the state. This function covers the allowance of establishing new colleges, change in location or site of an already set up and running college, extension of approval of functioning colleges and conversion of women's college into co-ed college, Increase or reduction admission seats allotted and offered by the college, shutting of institutions or closure of courses and the matters linked to supernumerary or NRI seats, are the other issues that affiliated universities will take decision upon.

The responsibilities held on affiliating universities will also include to approve change in the institution’s name, introducing dual degree and integrated/joint courses or evening classes and part-time programmes in the existing colleges.

The universities will in turn be answerable to UGC on all the stated issues. The draft is officially yet to be finalized in some weeks.

The directive has been in accord with Supreme Court’s judgment ruled on April 25, 2013 which states that colleges affiliated to universities do not come under the purview of the definition 'technical institution' under section 2(h) of AICTE Act, 1987.

Besides, the universities will also act as affiliating bodies of the colleges. This will lead to control of the uneven increase in seats, after the approval process authority is handed over to the affiliating universities, told college managements.